diff --git a/build/meson/meson.build b/build/meson/meson.build
index f264760a34c..98d556aa3bf 100644
--- a/build/meson/meson.build
+++ b/build/meson/meson.build
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ project('zstd',
     # so this isn't safe
     #'werror=true'
   ],
-  version: 'DUMMY',
+  version: run_command(
+    find_program('GetZstdLibraryVersion.py'), '../../lib/zstd.h',
+    check: true).stdout().strip(),
   meson_version: '>=0.48.0')
 
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
@@ -45,16 +47,6 @@ compiler_msvc = 'msvc'
 
 zstd_version = meson.project_version()
 
-zstd_h_file = join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), '../../lib/zstd.h')
-GetZstdLibraryVersion_py = find_program('GetZstdLibraryVersion.py', native : true)
-r = run_command(GetZstdLibraryVersion_py, zstd_h_file)
-if r.returncode() == 0
-  zstd_version = r.stdout().strip()
-  message('Project version is now: @0@'.format(zstd_version))
-else
-  error('Cannot find project version in @0@'.format(zstd_h_file))
-endif
-
 zstd_libversion = zstd_version
 
 # =============================================================================